Do You Feel Anger?

What happens when empathy becomes another workplace skill some people are allowed to fail?
Sofia has been hired as an empathy coach at a debt-collection agency, and the job is going about as well as you might expect. Her new clients can barely identify an emotion, much less practice compassion (and let’s just disregard the fact that someone keeps mugging Eva in the kitchen), and the office culture is a nightmare wrapped in corporate language and dead-eyed professionalism. While the employees stumble through lessons in feeling, listening, and basic human decency, something more sinister keeps breaking through the absurdity.
Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s outrageous dark comedy is sharp, bizarre, and deeply unsettling - exposing the danger of a world where harm is normalized, accountability is optional, and some people’s feelings matter far more than others.
*Michigan Premiere*

 

 

About the director:
Dr. Bridgett Vanderhoof is a freelance theatre educator, director, and costume designer based in Grand Rapids, MI. She holds a Ph.D in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as a BA in Theatre from Grand Valley State University. Previously at Actors’ Theatre: CULLUD WATTAH (Asst. Costume Designer), POTUS (Costume Designer), PARADISE LOST (Astoreth/Urania), COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN FIVE BETTIES (Director/Costume Designer), WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Director/Costume Designer). Since 2019, she has worked on multiple productions for GVSU, Grand Rapids Community College, Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, and Actors’ Theatre of Grand Rapids. Outside of the West Michigan community, Bridgett has worked for Interlochen Center for the Arts, Children’s Theatre of Madison, The International Performing Arts for Youth Festival, and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts (Theatre for Young Audiences Division). In addition to her theatre work, Bridgett serves as the Publicity & Recruitment Coordinator for the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Grand Valley State University.

 

About the playwright:
Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s work has been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, Berkeley Rep and ACT Theatre, among others. She is a former member of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater and Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group, and a recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s 2023 Paul Vogel Playwriting Award. She received her MFA from UC-San Diego.